


prodigal daughter

by Ffwydriad



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, House of X, Temporary Character Death, this is soooo self indulgent, to be fair so is everything i write about maddy i mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 02:36:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21046901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ffwydriad/pseuds/Ffwydriad
Summary: Maddy & Krakoa.





	prodigal daughter

She takes a deep breath, and steps through the gate. 

She opens her eyes in Krakoa, and breathes out. There's one question answered, at least. 

No one comes to stop her, comes to question her - why would they? Anyone who can travel through those gates belongs here, after all. The people give her passing greetings. She wonders how many of them know who she is. How many of them think they do, but are wrong. How many of them don't, and don't care, but greet her anyways. 

It isn't until she stands before the House of X that anyone acknowledges her as her. 

"Madelyne?" Storm says, eyes wide. Her face is an image of the lightning fast thoughts that parade across the surface of her mind. 

"Storm," she says, and she smiles, in a manner that is most assuredly off putting, even though there's no real reason for it to be. "I'm here to see the Professor."

* * *

She's only really met Xavier once: when he revealed she was newly pregnant with Nathan Christopher. She knows him well, though, how could she not? He was practically her father in law, once upon a time.

"Madelyne," he says. He sounds somewhat surprised. Like he didn't realize she was alive, perhaps, or didn't expect him to come to their new nation. Didn't think she could. There's always the way to confirm which it is, of course, but with the contraption on his head, she thinks it best not.

"Xavier," she says. He's not Professor X, anymore, after all. "I've heard you've been making backups of everyone's minds."

"I have," he says. "Yours included."

Straight to the point. "I want you to get rid of it," she says. 

"Without a backup of your mind, we won't be able to bring you back," Xavier points out. "If something were to happen-"

"I know," she says. "That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid."

She waits for the questions to come. 

To her surprise, they don't. "It's done," Xavier says. "You can always change your mind."

"I could," she says. "I won't." She doesn't broadcast the reasoning, but she makes sure that the intent that reviving her has consequences sits on the surface of her mind, if he's prone to check. "Nice talking with you."

"Scott's nearby," Xavier adds. "He's not busy."

"Is that so?" she asks. She can't help but laugh. It fits, she supposes, into the theme. "I've got a previous appointment."

* * *

At Bar Sinister, Madelyne Pryor meets her father. All hundred some copies of himself. 

"If it isn't the prodigal daughter," he says. "My most successful masterpiece returned, in this time of triumph. Tell me, what do you think-"

"I've heard," she says, "that killing mutants is no longer a crime."

"You can not kill what will not die," Sinister says. "Why charge on what is no more than an inconvenience?"

"Think about that," she says. 

When did she get so good at killing? It comes to her naturally. She hardly moves, orchestrating the death around her with her mind, and scant hand ovements. Most of them try to flee. A coward, unto th eend. 

The one in charge sits calmly. She walks to him, with all the force of a storm. She wonders if she flares like fire. She feels like fire, now moreso than ever. 

"You've grown up so well," he says. "A little bird tells me you've turned down immortality." He grins. "I could change that."

"You could try," she says. She leans in close. "Do you want to know a secret?"

"I'm all ears," Sinister says, leaning close to face her. 

"You are not the thing that made me great," she says. "In the end, you are nothing to me."

"This is a great deal of effort made over nothing," Sinister says. He grins. 

"A girl's got to have fun," she says. "And you should know, how monsters have theirs." 

She rips his heart out of his chest, slowly, and holds it still beating in her hands. 

She devours it. 

It tastes disgusting. How could it not. But for that first moment, that first bite, it is so very sweet.

**Author's Note:**

> self care is violently murdering your abusers b/c it isn't like murder's a crime anymore. 
> 
> ...i could have totally titled this "sinister, eat your heart out" or something but i like to still pretend i'm somewhat tasteful


End file.
